BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings baseball team is taking a short break from their Great Northwest Athletic Conference slate this weekend, dipping out of conference to take on the Beavers of Minot State University in their home-opener.
 
The Yellowjackets will play a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25 with first pitch scheduled to be thrown out at 1 p.m. Both days will feature a nine-inning game followed by a seven-inning contest.
 
Prior to Saturday's home-opener, the MSUB Residence Hall Association will host a free cookout from 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. All students and patrons are welcome to come behind the third base dugout and enjoy the cookout but those patrons with coupons for the RHA cookout are reminded that the coupon is only for the cookout and are not for the concessions stand located at Dehler Park.
 
The Yellowjackets enter this weekend's non-conference matchup with a record of 4-10 for the season after dropping a pair of games to Northwest Nazarene University. The Crusaders took the first game of Monday's GNAC doubleheader 1-0 before claiming a 13-2 victory in the second game.
 
Minot State heads to Billings this week with a record of 5-18 and are currently in the midst of a three-game losing skid.
 
MSUB has been led at the plate early this season by freshman Ty Gilmore's .388 batting average as he is one of just two players to have started in all 14 games this season. The Billings West High School product currently leads the team with 19 hits, 11 runs scored and three doubles.
 
Brody Miller has recorded a team second-best 13 hits for the year while Trevor Wilson leads the way with two home runs and nine runs batted in.
 
On the mound, Samuel Paterson has fanned a team-high 19 batters this season in a team-most 23.2 innings of work while Bobby Ragasa boasts a 3.00 earned run average in four appearances. Paterson, Ragasa and Travis Vincent have all seen the most action for the Yellowjackets logging innings in four games each.
 
For the Beavers, Scott Peters leads the way at the dish with a .333 batting average that includes having knocked a team-high-tying 25 hits. Mitch Olson has recorded a team-best eight doubles and Mike Turcotte has crossed the plate to score 78 times to lead the team.
 
The Beavers are led in pitching by Cole Stober's team-high 30 innings of work. Stober currently holds a 4.20 ERA and has recorded four decisions on the year, two in his favor. Behind Stober, Paul Thompson has logged 23.2 innings of work but has given up 28 earned runs on the season.